Compensation for LGBT veterans who faced mistreatment in the military will begin in January, a defence minister has announced. The government will start a £50m financial redress scheme for victims of the pre-2000 “gay ban” in the military next year, Veterans Minister Al Carns said. The announcement follows Lord Etherton’s report last year, which revealed decades of bullying, assaults and expulsions of LGBT military members – often leaving them without income or pensions. Carns told the House of Commons “the treatment of LGBT veterans was completely and utterly unacceptable”.